Book Four – Interlude – A Brand New Self

“Itarr, why didn’t you want me to talk to you back in Momo’s room?” asked Servi. She rested on the bed in her room, surrounded by darkness. A pair of ruby-colored eyes stared up at the ceiling. She rolled over to the left and hugged her chest. The soft, black hair coming down to her shoulders swam past her eyes like a frail curtain.

That is because I wanted to have a chance to speak to you alone. I’m sorry for my selfishness.

Servi shook her head. “There’s nothing to say sorry about. But I have to say something too… Thank you for protecting and watching over Momo. From Sea and Jeri to the pathetic guards that tried to do something foolish… You were right there… Always watching… And always guarding.”

Servi… Itarr’s voice was awfully feminine with a hint of frailness. Servi imagined she was shaking inside their soul, her divine heart trembling with something far too familiar to the blood-stained girl.

Servi, while waiting for your recovery, I’ve had a long time to think to myself… I went back to when we first met and went day by day. The achievements I’ve accomplished while inside you… Then I realized that someone like me is more suited to be a weapon… All of my power belongs to you, and you’re more than experienced in using me to the fullest extent…

“Itarr—”

Please, let me finish. For the longest time, I thought I was unsuited to receive your love. Even though I love you... I kept thinking of a suitable punishment for myself, and that was what guided me to just being a weapon. I convinced myself that I was satisfied being your primary weapon. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I was even prepared to silence myself forever… And… And…

Itarr’s bodiless voice quivered, losing focus as she choked back a couple dozen of sniffles. She pushed through the emotions, failing again and again to speak her heart.

And I realized that I couldn’t do that!! Convincing myself to just be a tool of destruction?! I knew you wouldn’t ever agree to it! But I just kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking, but that’s the only punishment a sinful existence like me deserves!

But I don’t want that! I don’t want to stop talking to you or Momo! Do you know what she did?! She kept thanking me over and over… She even asked for our ID so she could sleep while hugging it… She said that was as close to an embrace we could get until I had a body… I love Momo, Servi, and I love you too!!

“I love you, Itarr. I’m glad you don’t want that… Having someone as amazingly sweet and caring as you to end up as only a stupid weapon? I would have never stood for it… Momo wouldn’t have either… But I’m proud of you, my love… I’m really happy that you managed to see through it… Because Itarr… I don’t see myself living a life without you or Momo… I’m only me… Here right now, in this bed, in Canary, in Lando, because of you and that beautiful girl sleeping in the other room.”

Servi… I love you too!! I always have, and I always will!!!

“Itarr…” Servi hugged her arms to her chest. “I’ve decided… It can’t be tomorrow—or I guess tonight—because of the play… But the day after… On the 25th… We’re getting you a body… If I did my math right, we have about 1,013 Potential left after using Lux Dei Omnipotentis. I might be off by a couple dozen, but I know for sure we have more than a thousand.”

A body?!?! Really? The Goddess perked right up, all traces of sadness gone from her void-like red face. She happily swam around their interconnected soul. The vivid red atmosphere that was her home turned an even brighter shade of crimson. Then something ticked her mind. How did you know about that? Your memories…?

“Haha, guess I can’t keep it a secret. It wasn't one, but yes, I have all my memories. I clearly recall what Sea and Jeri looked like… I remember every detail about the dinners at Claire's house… Even the stuff about the coconut bread pudding and cisseanate bread… But I did not lie to Momo… These memories just gradually came back to me over the hour, and I just chose to stay silent…”

Does that mean…

Servi smiled, her face like that of a girl realizing her crush shared her feelings of love. “Yes… I know, remember, and distinctly realize Momo’s feelings for me… And I will reciprocate them… Tomorrow night… After the play… I’ll turn those friendship kisses into the real thing… And when we fall asleep, it won’t be in our underwear… I want to hold her against my chest and fill her with my passion… I want to kiss her a hundred times, and I want… I want to give her a night neither of us will ever forget… Because I love her… I love her smile… I love how she protected me… Momo even said she was my guardian and picked me up like a princess… If I wasn’t in love with her before, then I’m infatuated with her now…” She blushed something awful and felt the heat rise from her cheeks. “And Itarr… When you get a body… I want to teach you how to make love… Will you…”

Servi, I think I want that… I want to hold your hands… And kiss you… And touch you… And hug you… I don’t know if this is the right expression…but I want to be your woman... And Momo’s woman… The three of us? Being together? That’s what I want…

Servi rolled off the bed and straightened her clothes. “Itarr, today is just the first step for the rest of our life… It’s a new beginning for us, and it came at the cost of many lives… Forgiveness for our sins isn’t something we can take for granted. It’s honestly possible Momo’s the only one who will forgive us for what we did… Because I know that right now, neither of us are strong enough to do it alone. That’s why, Itarr, I need your help. I need your assistance.”

And you will have it! Servi, we certainly have a lot of work ahead of ourselves. You and I both… Together, we’ll uncover Necromancy and do what is right… That isn’t a promise, but it’s a declaration!

“You’re damn right it is! The road is going to be long. It’ll be full of perils and danger, and we'll likely have to kill again to protect what's important to us… I remember saying something about not wanting to be a villain anymore... And I don’t… But heroes have to kill to protect. It’s a childish grandeur to think you can improve the world without ending hundreds of thousands of lives… Every action has an equal reaction. It’s not always good, and it’s not always bad, but something can't be 100% one way or the other. But we have each other…

“And because we have each other, I must confess something. Right here, right now… I feel like myself for the very first time… It really does feel like these arms are mine… These fingers are mine… The words I’m speaking right now are coming from the true me… The person I was before, even before I met you… It just didn’t feel like me… It’s really like the difference between night and day.” Servi strolled right out of her room with a smile and confidentially rapped her knuckles on Momo’s door.

Hmm… Then would it be accurate to say this is our new first meeting? If it is, then it is a pleasure to meet you, Servi. Hehe!

“Thank you! The pleasure is all mine.” Servi found it rather enjoyable to hear her Goddess’s laughter. She just sounded so adorable and precious, and Servi’s mind wandered to ascertain what she would look like with a body.

A few seconds later, the door slowly swung open and revealed a Momo still dressed in her pajamas. She yawned, but it looked like she hadn’t had a chance to lay down. “Servy? Is something wrong?”

“There is… I tried to fall asleep, but it’s just too cold… And I don’t want to be alone… Mosie, can I sleep with you?”

Instead of getting flustered and acting like a fool, Momo kept her rampaging excitement inside her core being.

Or so she tried. A wise man once said that the truest part of a Singi was their tail. Tonight, that saying was as true as ever. Her rampaging tail was as fast as pink fury. It was so speedy that if Momo laid on her stomach, she would probably have started to fly into the air like a helicopter.

“I was just thinking that it was chillier than usual,” Momo said while opening the door even more. She had a slight grin, like a mischievous cat who had a plan in her mind. Servi strolled into the darkness as a small Lux Sphere illuminated just enough to see the bed.

Without even saying anything else, the two girls stripped down to their underwear and crawled into bed. As if it was programmed into their bodies, they each assumed their favorite sleeping position.

Which just so happened to be one that was so very familiar to the two of them.

A Goddess brought forth a blanket to lay on top of them.

Mosie’s… She’s so soft… The last time I touched her stomach, she almost panicked. But now? She’s just giggling… And wrapping my arms around her waist? It’s like she’s a heated blanket… And Gods, she smells so good…

“Servy, I have something to say. When you were recovering, we slept like this a lot… It started when I was trying to leave to go to my room, and you wouldn’t let me… So I just changed into my pajamas, and you were in your underwear… It was probably wrong—”

“No… It wasn’t wrong at all… If it was something we shouldn’t have done, then why do I feel so protected? I feel so warm… Mosie, you’re like a heat lamp…” Servi shifted forward just a bit more. Her nose touched Momo’s chest, and she inhaled her scent.

“It feels good for me, too.” Momo rubbed her cheeks against Servi’s warm, soft hair. Then after debating on it for a couple of nanoseconds, she went for her signature friendship kiss. “And… That’s something else I’ve been doing,” she said when her lips left Servi’s beautiful forehead. “I’ve been calling it a friendship kiss… Because friends kiss, right? And—”

“And we’re most certainly friends. The bestest of best friends, I would add. Hehe!” Servi’s giggles, the way her arms wrapped around Momo’s waist—it was just what the happy cat girl wanted. To truly send a thrill through the Singi’s heart, Servi leaned her head back and gave Momo a small kiss on her chin. In her excitement, she had no choice but to respond back with another friendly kiss of friendship. Then the two girls shared a giggle.

“Yep! You, me, and Itarr… The three bestest of friends… Servy, I think I’m about to drift off… I’m tired… Umm… Did you have a talk with Itarr?”

“That I did. We talked it all out.” As if on cue, an ID appeared and plopped right down. Momo caught it, hugged it, and added it to the snuggle pile.

“That’s good.”

“And I told her something. Mosie, it really does like I’m a brand-new girl. The difference between the me now and the me before we left for Arcton is like night and day… Or the difference between summer and winter.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. My memories are still AWOL, but I feel like I’m remembering a few things here and there. When I said I liked noodles and veggies, I was really telling the truth. And… I now know that I like to fight… Not to kill, but for the thrill and fun of it… So like sparring and training… Are you fine with that?”

“Servy, I’ll accept all of you. If you like to fight and spar? Well guess what? I like training. And having those matches with Srassa filled me with so much joy, so you aren’t alone there. And I love me some veggies as well… As we continue with our lives, I’m sure even more of your memories will return. Then you can tell me more about your favorite things.”

“Mmn… That’s a promise, Mosie…”

“Then it’s a promise… Servy, sweet dreams, okay? And Itarr, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Mosie…” Darkness encompassed her vision as Servi closed her eyes. She drifted to sleep with a pure smile on her face…

She was happy.

She was fulfilled.

She was so absolutely thankful she was alive and able to experience this magical moment.

Momo slightly shifted her arms and rubbed her cheeks against Servi’s head. Her name purred from her mouth, and moments after that, Servi joined the girl she loved in the world of dreams.